YANA - YOU ARE NOT ALONE NOW

PROSTATE CANCER SUPPORT SITE

SILVER

Joel Nowak and Wendy live in New York, USA. He was 50 when he was diagnosed in August 2001. His initial PSA was 7.3 ng/ml, his Gleason Score was 4+3 = 7 and he was staged T2bNoMx. His choice of treatment was Laparascopic Surgery. Here is his story:

I was Diagnosed at the tender age of 50 years. I always knew that I would get Prostate Cancer as my father had it; his only brother died from it; my paternal grandfather and his father died of "prostate problems." Needless to say I started monitoring my PSA at about age 40.

I decided to go the route of Laparascopic surgery, however at that time this procedure was relatively new in the U.S. I live in New York City (Brooklyn) which had just experienced the 9-11 and so it was extremely difficult to move around the city and very difficult to get appointments with doctors. I was able to identify a few surgeons who had been trained in the procedure, however none of them had performed the surgery more then 10 times. This was not acceptable.

I did finally find a surgeon who had just left Worcester Medical Center (Ma.) and started a practice at Mass General Hospital in Boston. I was his 96th surgery.

I continued PSA monitoring which was always undetectable. Then in January of 2006 my PSA jumped up to a high of 87.9 ng/ml with a doubling time of under two weeks!!! I had a complete battery of scans and tests including an MRI and bone scan. The bone scan was negative, but the MRI showed that I had micro-mets in the lymph nodes and it also showed a tumor of over 10 cm in my left Kidney.

I was referred to a Kidney specialist who removed the Kidney. I was now a triple Cancer guy; recurrent PC, Kidney Cancer and Thyroid Cancer (dx in the summer of 1998).

Because of the significant PSA velocity I started Hormone Blockade while still hospitalized from the kidney surgery. My PSA tumbled as quickly as it had doubled and soon the PSA was back to being undetectable.

I stayed on the blockade for about eight months and then elected to go take a vacation. I have now been off the blockade for four months. My PSA still remains undetectable.

I will add that I was one of those guys who had every possible side effect, plus some I invented, from the HB. Being off of the blockade has really made a major QOL improvment. It is only now I realize how terrible I had been feeling.

 

UPDATED

December 2007

 

 

I have just completed my first year of being intermittent. My PSA remains <0.04 and am feeling very well. I pray for the PSA to stay down for a long time.

Joel's e-mail address is: Joel@finchrealty.com